Weekday commuter rail service to resume Monday

It will be back to business as usual for North Shore commuters come Monday, as weekday commuter rail service is scheduled to resume.

For the past three weeks, folks have been transported from Newburyport and Rockport to stations along the rail lines north of Beverly via shuttle bus. They were then able to board trains at Salem Station and continue on into Boston.

The service was suspended in order to replace the 132-year-old Beverly Drawbridge, which spans the Danvers River connecting Beverly to Salem.

Due to the high level of productivity being performed by construction crews, Positive Train Control (PTC) work being done along the Newburyport/Rockport Commuter Rail Line will conclude one month early on Sunday, Aug. 27.

PTC is a federally mandated safety control system that automatically reduces train speeds when needed, reducing train collisions and preventing human error. In order to meet the federal deadline set to accomplish PTC installation, the entire commuter rail line needs to be shut down for crews to work as efficiently as possible.

PTC work on the Lowell Commuter Rail Line began on Saturday, Aug. 5, and is scheduled to continue through Sunday, Oct. 1. Shuttle buses are replacing weekend Lowell Line train service with shuttle bus schedules available at www.mbta.com/getthere.